Pubertal development and behavior: hormonal activation of social and motivational tendencies
Open accessAbstract
Adolescence is a time of dramatic changes including rapid physical growth, the onset of sexual maturation, the activation of new drives and motivations, and a wide array of social and affective changes and challenges. This review focuses on behavioral changes in this interval and is organized by the claim that a key set of these adolescent changes are part of a more general re-orientation of social behavior. More specifically we hypothesize that pubertal maturation is associated with the activation of social and motivational tendencies, which in turn influence behavior and emotion in adolescence depending upon interactions with social context. We focus on evidence for two examples of these motivational changes: (1) increases in sensation-seeking (motivational tendency to want to experience high-intensity, exciting experiences) and (2) stronger natural interest in--and pursuit of--contact with peers and potential romantic partners. We consider how these motivational changes contribute to the broader social re-orientation of adolescence, including exploration of social experiences, development of skills and knowledge relevant to taking on adult social roles, individuation from family, and establishment of an individual identity, all of which represent core developmental tasks during this period in the life span (Blakemore, 2008; Dahl & Spear, 2004; Steinberg & Morris, 2000). The paper also emphasizes the importance of investigating and understanding the direct influences of puberty on behavior and disentangling these from the broader set of changes during adolescent development.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Hormone-related changes sensitize the adolescent brain to reward.
“It is thought that these hormone-related changes sensitize the adolescent brain to reward (Forbes and Dahl, 2010, Peper and Dahl, 2013), as appears to be the case in animal studies (Alexander et al., 1994, Clark et al., 1996, Miele et al., 1988).”
From The dual systems model: Review, reappraisal, and reaffirmation (2016) · cites this paper as Forbes and Dahl, 2010
The Abstract (page unavailable) hypothesizes that rising pubertal hormones activate appetitive motivations for social goals and rewards. That supports a hedged claim about social-reward motivation, but not the broader claim that hormones sensitize the adolescent brain to reward generally. In “Challenges in Research on Puberty and Behavior” (page unavailable), the reported monetary-reward finding includes reduced striatal reactivity, rather than a general increase in reward responsiveness. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe pubertal transition is a sensitive period for developmental change with increased susceptibility to genetic and environmental influences.
“The pubertal transition, like other developmental switch points, is a sensitive period for developmental change (Forbes and Dahl, 2010; Nelson et al., 2005), with increased susceptibility to genetic and environmental influences.”
From The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity (2011) · cites this paper as Forbes and Dahl, 2010
Development of secondary sexual characteristics impacts how adolescents are perceived by themselves and others, and may contribute to adultification, particularly for Black girls.
“Additionally, development of secondary sexual characteristics impact how adolescents are perceived by themselves and others, and may contribute to adultification (when children are perceived as being older and less innocent), particularly for Black girls.(35,36)”
From Puberty Initiates Cascading Relationships Between Neurodevelopmental, Social, and Internalizing Processes Across Adolescence (2021) · cites this paper as [35]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 83 · Cited by 494
Research works printed but not linked: 5
- Bramen JE Dahl RE Forbes EE Sowell ER under review Pubertal status predicts medial temporal lobe and cortical gray matter volume in normally developing adolescents
- Feinberg I Campbell I in press Sleep & circadian rhythms during adolescence
- Forbes EE Phillips ML Manuck SB Moyles DL Tarr JA Ryan ND under review Pubertal maturation, neural reactivity to reward, and adolescents' mood in natural environments
- Steinberg L 1999 Adolescence Fifth New York McGraw-Hill College
- Wallen K 1999 Risky business: Social context and hormonal modulation of primate sexual desire Wallen K Schneider J Reproduction in Context 289 323 Cambridge, MA MIT Press
- Authors
- Forbes, E. E., & Dahl, R. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Corresponding author
- Dahl, Ronald E.
- Venue
- Brain and Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-02
- Volume
- 72
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 66-72
- ISSN
- 0278-2626 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3955709
- OpenAlex
- W2078899394
- Cited by
- 494
- References
- 83
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 37 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 41 · 2012: 32
- FWCI
- 3.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Brain and Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (K01MH074769)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA018910)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Keywords
- puberty, adolescent development, sensation seeking, peer contact, romantic relationships, social behavior, individuation, identity construction, sexual maturation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Exploratory Behavior, Hormones, Humans, Motivation, Puberty, Sexual Behavior, Social Behavior
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
